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Home » Business And Finance Articles » Uncle Sams Money And How To Get A Micro Loan

Uncle Sam's Money and How to Get a Micro Loan

The US Governement has a MicroLoan Program that provides small loans to new start-up companies, newly established businesses, or loans to help small business growth concerns.

Under this government loan program the Small Business Administration, (SBA) will make funds available to nonprofit community based lenders (also known as intermediaries) which, in turn will make loans available to eligible borrowers in amounts of up to $35,000.

You will submit your application to a local intermediary and then all the credit decisions are made at a local level.

Terms:

You can get a micro loan for a maximum term of 6 years. The loan terms will vary according to how much you are borrowing, what you are using the loan for, and your needs as a small business owner.

Interest Rates:

The interest rates on your loan will vary according to the intermediary lender and also the costs involved from the US Treasury.

Collateral:

Although collateral is not always required, each intermediary will have its own credit requirements. If you are a business owner in need of a loan, be prepared to offer some sort of callateral as a personal guarantee from you as the business owner.

Did you know?

Each intermediary is required to provide business based training and technical assistance to its micro loan borrowers. Individuals and small businesses applying for microloan financing may be required to fulfill training and/or planning requirements before a loan application is considered.

How to Find an Intermediary:

To get a list of participating Intermediary lenders AND non-lending technical assistance providers go to the SBA's website.

This page will show you state by state intermediary lenders, their addresses, their email address and phone numbers for you to contact someone in your own state:

http://www.sba.gov/financing/microparticipants.html

And here is another random article you might be interested in...

Team Building with Custom Made Logo Apparel

Do you run a small business or a small team which needs to work together? Giving your employees embroidered apparel builds a sense of team spirit and camaraderie. In addition, it rewards your employees and shows them that they are part of something. If your people face the public, its another easy chance to show customers your name.

The process that creates logo apparel is called embroidery. You may have not thought about this much but you very likely have embroidered apparel in your closet. That little sewn picture on your polo shirt is embroidery. Embroidery businesses exist in a variety of sizes. This is because of the investment needed. An embroidery machine capable of sewing 20 pieces at once is more expensive and complex to maintain compared to a machine which sews one piece at a time. For 1-100 pieces, a small company will give you the best price and delivery time. For 100 or more pieces, you want your quote from a "contract" embroiderer. Price and delivery depend on the machines that will be used, how many pieces can be sewn at once, and the location of the business.

Buying these items is not difficult, but it does consist of multiple steps. Custom logo decorated shirts and caps are not expensive. But, these purchases do require some advanced thought and planning. To get the best price and product, allow at least three weeks prior to your delivery date. This varies depending on the size of the business that you are working with.

Step One - Determine the embroidered graphic.

If you are an established small business owner then you probably already have a logo and you certainly have a company name. You may already have stationary or business card with your logo and these are often suitable graphics. Using your logo and/or company name are very popular. The embroiderer needs your logo graphic to quote step two.

Step Two - Digitizing the design graphic.

Custom made apparel is sewn using a computer controlled embroidery (sewing) machine. So, your design graphic must be converted into a form which the machine can understand. Today's embroiderers call this process "digitizing". Digitizing is performed with software specially made for the purpose. However, using this software is a special skill requiring large quantities of experience. So, most small companies outsource this work and large ones may have digitizers on staff. Often, only after the design is sewn, it's discovered that the characteristics of the fabric require adjustments to the digitized design. A highly experienced digitizer can provide a digitized design with few or no adjustments needed.

Step Three - Sewing the final product.

The digitized embroidery design is transferred into the embroidery machine's computer memory. The machine is setup with the thread colors required and the blank pieces are sewn. The cost of this step varies depending on piece quantity and stitch count. There is a fixed amount of setup time for a particular design and blank product. Depending on the piece to be sewn and the previous sewing job, the needle for each thread color may need to be changed. Each thread color needed must be mounted and threaded. The stitch count contributes to the sewing time for each piece.